Despite official sponsors and their coordinating campaigns, Pimm’s, was the most talked about brand at Wimbledon this year.
Their cocktail, the Pimm’s Cup, which combines Pimm’s No. 1 with lemonade, fresh fruit, cucumber and mint, garnered them most mentions across web, mobile and social.
The popular drink has been a Wimbledon “staple” for years, but it has never been officially endorsed by the tournament. Still, it beat out top official sponsors such as Jaguar, Evian, Robinsons and even the main sponsor IBM. More impressively, Pimm’s achieved all of this without mentioning the word “Wimbledon” once.
With sponsorships taking over every major event, is it possible fans enjoyed and talked about the drink so much because it wasn’t slammed in their face at the tournament as “The Official Gin-Based-Fruit Cup of Wimbledon”? Feeling like an authentic tradition of the tournament might have worked out better for Pimm’s than paid brand placement ever would.